How to Stay Inspired for Work and Everyday Life

You can’t be legendary if you have no energy. If you look at any iconic producer, artist or writer, one of the common traits they have is a massive amount of energy that actually brings inspiration. So, WriterCheap team knows all the best ideas to stay inspired for work and everyday life.

Whether you are a craftsperson, copywriter or freelancer, you want to produce exponential results, wow all the witnesses, and be the leader in your field. It all starts with being inspired. If you used to be a litigation lawyer/accountant/IT person and used to think that it was all about hard tactics, strategy, execution, you have never been so wrong before. Just look at Elon Musk, Nelson Mandela, Jeff Bezos, or any game changer legendary performer! They created all the incredible things because they were inspired, they were fueled by this intense purpose. Inspiration is not ‘a sort of important,’ it is fundamentally important. So, how to stay inspired for work and everyday life?

1. New Experience = New Ideas

Inspiration is something that helps you generate ideas constantly. It can come from everywhere and everything – from mundane to extravagant, from existing to imaginary.

We get stuck because of the pressure of trying to come up with an original idea but originality, as they say, is non-existent. Ideas come from fragments of our experiences, interactions with people, and the knowledge that we consume. That is why it is crucial to be engaged in creative activities even if you are IT person to the core. Take a dance, art or acting class, try on playing the drums or guitar, find a new hobby. These are things that spark your imagination and make you come to life. These are things that keep the creativity flowing, help your social and individual growth, stretch the imagination, and offer a wonderful outlet for self-expression. Because, as we said, new experience and knowledge bring new ideas.

And whether we know it or not, we take bits and pieces from existing ideas and combine them together to create something new. That is not necessarily original, but it is new because it is us. It is putting our own twist, our own flavor, and in that way, it becomes authentic.

There is also a great value in just getting out there. You can call it “the power of circulation.” Circulate around the world. By getting on an airplane, you meet new people, by getting into a new city, you get provoked by new insights, by hearing new conversations, you get new levels of energy. If you want to be inspired, get out there. You can get some of the best ideas just reading magazines in hotel rooms. They have nothing to do with leadership, productivity or high-performance, but in that way, you are learning the language of those creative people – the chefs, fashion designers, models – and are getting inspired by these stories.

2. Nature

Daily nature walk should be one of your favorite protocols. It is like a meditation – you walk and touch the Earth via the soil. We do not want to get too esoteric here but there are a lot of researches saying if you want to boost your immune system, release serotonin and dopamine, walk in nature.

Another thing to do to stay inspired is to create your own nightly sunset ritual. It sounds so obvious but if the sunset only happened once every thousand years, you and the rest of humanity would definitely be watching it. As it happens every evening, we take it for granted. Positive psychologists call this mental phenomenon “hedonic adaptation.” Don't make the mistake of thinking today’s sunset is something regular.

3. 25 Practice of “I am”

What you need to do is to finish the sentence ‘I am (whatever)’ 25 times. So, if you want to become humbler, write down ‘I am humbler,’ then you get to your next one writing ‘I am more prosperous, brave, loving, innovative, energetic.’ You do that 25 times in your journal on a regular basis. What does that do? It creates a blueprint within your subconscious mind of the performer you want to become. Then, that thinking will become your way of being.

4. Pay Attention

Pay attention to things around you, to mundane things. It means to be curious, to try and see things from a different perspective because new knowledge or new discovery can bring new ideas. Your daily existence can provide you with creative and smart ideas for your articles, drawings, or just for work. Wonder out loud about everything.

Recently, someone left a paper cup from Starbuck on the table and I wondered who came up with the idea of a mermaid with two tails? When we went to the stadium to root for our national team, I wondered who actually designed that epic “eight stars encompassed in one circle” logo that the greatest football players worn on their sleeves? After combining those topics, the article about the most famous advertising images was written.

If you ask writers, for example, where they get their ideas from, they will get really mean. A true reason why they behave so is that those writers do not really know. Stephen King mentioned that his inspiration comes from a bunch of places – desperation, deadlines, etc. But most of all, he gets ideas from the confluence, two things flowing together. The point is that writers aim to train themselves to notice when they have had an idea. It is not that they have more ideas or get inspired more than anyone. Writers just notice when it happens a little bit more.

So, pay attention to art made by others. Go to museums or art exhibitions, read books by artists or about artists because it can influence your style, your process or the way your work, and your artistic choices. But keep in mind not to compare yourself to these artists.

5. Read More

Maybe it sounds kind of typical, but there is a rule: those who read more actually tend to generate more creative ideas. The more you read, the more you are consuming stories, the more it just becomes part of how you tell stories. It is a must-do thing for those who want to become a writer or a journalist.

Let me ask you: how many movies have you seen in your lifetime? Hundreds, probably. And because of that, you have a natural sense of how a movie story in two hours is told to you. So, when the film is over, you can say “Oh, I love that movie” or “I think it was too boring.” Based on your background, the movie has created expectations for you on how a story should be told and whether or not it is actually fulfilling. The same thing is for writing. By reading, you are actually learning how to tell stories through the written word so that you naturally get better at actually telling them.

Still, the best way to stay inspired is to surround yourself with things you really love. It could be material objects, places, or people. It could be as simple as sticking images that you love on your wall or collaborating with people to let ideas flow. Anything that makes you happy is going to inspire you.